The list
Novell GroupWise 8
GroupWise is designed right from the ground up as a serious, enterprise-level communications tool. GroupWise does not try to do everything (there is no instant messenger or VoIP integration as seen in some packages), but in addition to email it provides shared calendaring, excellent contact management, integrated web page viewing and RSS feeds.
We were initially bewildered by what could not be found (even basics such as a menu system and the ability to set up email accounts), however, it was discovered that an obscure button on the right-hand side of the toolbar does manage all of this.
This stunning decision to hide the menu is now shared by Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7. It means that you cannot even find the online help — to help you find the menu! Having discovered the menu, setting up accounts (any IMAP or POP3 server can be accessed in addition to the GroupWise server) and generally customising the application is straightforward.
GroupWise allows for one or more highly customisable home screens. A home screen provides an overview of some or all of the components of GroupWise. They can include recent items from inboxes, newsfeeds, as well as a browser window and upcoming calendar events or current tasks. Additional screen tabs provide details of email, calendar, contacts, tasks and newsfeeds.
GroupWise stores just as much contact information as Outlook. GroupWise, however, displays the information in a much more compact and attractive manner. Calendars can be published to allow sharing and calendars can be merged with the company calendar to provide all information on one screen — without sacrificing privacy or missing out on public information.
The GroupWise client is easy to install and use, but it should be trialled before deployment across an enterprise. When initially installed, Enex staff found that it interfered with Microsoft Outlook (not that you should need both on one machine) and after uninstalling, it was necessary to repair MS Office.
Editing and opening emails in Microsoft Word is a new feature for GroupWise — presumably it will take a little while to get rid of all the bugs. Our main product assessment was undertaken with a virtualised copy of the application. Sadly, this version was not fully functional and crashed when we attempted to edit a calendar entry or edit a new email.
GroupWise is designed to closely integrate with a GroupWise server, and accounts on other servers can also be set up. Security is a very important issue for Novell. Log-in options exist for local caching, or log-in to a web-based Novell server or a business' own internal GroupWise server. GroupWise also employs extensive lists of known spammers to keep inboxes as clean as possible.
It was disappointing not to see instant messaging in this otherwise complete package, but this is partially alleviated by the fact that GroupWise tracks email conversation threads.
The GroupWise client is available for Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems and there is also a web interface. In this review, the Windows version was the focus of our assessment.
The desktop version of this application, as tested, costs a scary US$179 per user, including one year support (with no additional server side costs). Cost cutting can be achieved by forgoing support or by opting for web-based access to email and instant messaging features (US$26.30).
(Credit: Michael Palamountain/ZDNet.com.au)
(Credit: Michael Palamountain/ZDNet.com.au)
brucemills 
Tony2k 
LarryS 
Yoda7 
syampillai 
Poser 
kwiedemann 
harry 
thewebsiteisdown 
peterpk85 
desmondinyoface 
Linkedin 
RSS Feeds 
Newsletters 
Alerts
Outlook
Given the breadth of products you studied, it's a pity you didn't include Microsoft Outlook itself as a reference point. That would help people answer the most interesting question of all - are the alternatives better?
Outlook/Exchange
Agreed. Outlook and Exchange are still number 1 here, and it's because (despite their problems), they're still the best.
I think the Notes client is worse than the GroupWise client (although GroupWise has had problems on the server end).
As has been mentioned earlier, Lotus Notes sucks big time (big usuability problems, the single-threaded UI of the Notes client, the larger number of help desk calls, higher staff requirements, maintenance issues, etc.), and saying it's good enough for IBM is just pathetic - it's their product! (I'd like to see the numbers when you remove sites where IBM is the outsourcer. I wouldn't use Microsoft as a reason to recommend Exchange/Outlook, nor Novell with GroupWise).
Groupwise server problems
What server problems are you talking about I have been in groupwise shops with 20,000 users and they only had two administrators for the whole system- Groupwise and Novell. When you talk about server problems what about the fact that you have to take the whole information store down to to any king of maintance on the server. Not with Groupwise you and check individual or entire postoffice without taking anyone off of the system. What about microsoft offline defrag which requires you to have 150% free storage space to run. That is very expensive for storage cost. There is no such requirment for groupwise. You and also run groupwise servers on linux, netware, and windows. What about the high number of viruses that attack outlook. Do some checking and compare the number to exchange/outlook.
Groupwise Server Probelms??
I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.
"its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google..."
Ahh, the irony...
Groupwise Server Probelms??
I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.
Groupwise server problems
What server problems are you talking about I have been in groupwise shops with 20,000 users and they only had two administrators for the whole system- Groupwise and Novell. When you talk about server problems what about the fact that you have to take the whole information store down to to any king of maintance on the server. Not with Groupwise you and check individual or entire postoffice without taking anyone off of the system. What about microsoft offline defrag which requires you to have 150% free storage space to run. That is very expensive for storage cost. There is no such requirment for groupwise. You and also run groupwise servers on linux, netware, and windows. What about the high number of viruses that attack outlook. Do some checking and compare the number to exchange/outlook.
Groupwise Server Probelms??
I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.